Final Days of Mexican American Singer Selena

Mexican American singer Selena Quintanilla was a Tejano superstar and was on the verge of an even higher level of fame when she was shot and killed on March 31, 1995. In her final days, Selena got to enjoy her ongoing success and make plans for the future but she also had to deal with frustrating encounters with Yolanda Saldívar, the woman who had managed Selena's fan club and fashion boutiques before becoming her killer.

Yolanda Saldívar, the founder of Selena's fan club and the woman who would become her killer. Saldívar's fan club work had earned the trust of the Quintanilla family and resulted in her promotion to managing the boutiques. But then Selena's father heard complaints from fan club members about not receiving items they'd paid for. On March 9, 1995, Selena, her father and sister confronted Saldívar about her management, but she reportedly couldn't explain away the irregularities Selena's family had found.

Though she no longer wanted to work with Saldívar, Selena didn't completely cut ties with her. She'd trusted Saldívar enough to give her access to financial accounts. Now Selena had discovered important financial records were missing, and she wanted Saldívar to return them.

During the encounter, which took place in Selena's car, Saldívar apparently gave her some documents, though not everything. Then she showed Selena that she had a gun in her purse.

According to Perez's account, an unfazed Selena told Saldívar to return the gun. And Saldívar seems to have listened to the singer. Though she'd purchased the .38-caliber weapon on March 11 and picked it up on March 13 after a background check, soon after the meeting with Selena she took the revolver back to the store.

Selena would attempt to receive these documents multiple times within a time span of 2 weeks leading up to her death.

On the morning of March 31, Selena met with Saldívar, who had claimed she'd been raped while in Monterrey, Mexico. Selena took her to the hospital for an exam, becoming frustrated when Saldívar told a different story about how much she'd bled after the alleged assault.

The hospital wouldn't perform a full examination on Saldívar, as she was not a resident of Corpus Christi and was no longer in the jurisdiction of the alleged attack. The two returned to the Days Inn after leaving the hospital, with Selena still hoping for her missing records. While in Saldívar's room, Selena was shot. Bleeding, she made her way to the lobby; motel employees would later testify she named Saldívar as her shooter as she collapsed.

A 911 call about the shooting was made at 11:50 a.m. Selena was quickly taken to a hospital, where she was given blood transfusions (contrary to her faith as a Jehovah's Witness) but an artery had been severed and the medical treatment couldn't save her. Her death was pronounced at 1:05 p.m.

Saldívar, claiming the shooting had been an accident, threatened suicide during an hours-long standoff with police. She was eventually arrested. In October she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison (she could be eligible for parole in 2025).

More than 50,000 members of the public came to pay their respects to Selena before her funeral. When rumors spread that the singer was still alive, her family opted to open the casket to prove that Selena was truly gone.

Even two decades after she was killed, Selena remains a cultural icon. Dreaming of You came out after her death and debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, a first for a Latin artist